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Odo
Odo was a Changeling, one of 100 infants sent out to explore the galaxy and compelled to return later in order to share their experiences. He would serve as chief of security aboard the space station Terok Nor, later known as Deep Space 9. Discovery He was found adrift in his natural gelatinous state in the Denorios Belt in the Bajor system in 2337. In 2356 he was brought to the Bajoran Institute for Science to be studied by Doctor Mora Pol. Not initially recognising Odo as a sentient being, Mora subjected him to long series of experiments, for which Odo endured time in a vacuum chamber and a protein decompiler, as well as extensive electric shocks. Odo eventually rebelled against Mora's unintentional mistreatment by forming into a tentacle and hitting him (DS9: "The Begotten") before later forcing Mora to recognise him as sentient by copying a flask on a laboratory table. (DS9: "The Alternate") Mora would continue to study and teach Odo during the Occupation of Bajor. He was assisted by Dr. Weld Ram. When Odo assumed human form he copied Dr. Mora's hairdo. During the Occupation of Bajor, Odo performed a Cardassian neck trick that greatly amused the Cardassian officers. When Odo left Dr. Mora's institute, he did not leave on good terms. He resented some of the methods Dr. Mora had used on him. Blaming him for not realizing that he was sentient. (DS9: "The Alternate", "Necessary Evil") His name stems from the Cardassian word for "nothing," which is the literal translation of Odo'ital rather than its intended meaning "unknown sample." (DS9: "Heart of Stone") Terok Nor At some point during the occupation, Odo arrived on Terok Nor. He would often settle disputes between the Bajoran workers on the station. In 2365, Odo was recruited by Gul Dukat to investigate the murder of a Bajoran collaborator. Among his chief suspects was Kira Nerys. Odo was able to discover that she was a Bajoran resistance fighter. He would at that time lie to Dukat and did not reveal her identity. He would discover in 2370 that she was indeed the murderer. (DS9: "Necessary Evil") Odo continued working for the Cardassians, eventually becoming Chief of Security. He was under continual pressure to deliver results, and allowed the wrongful execution of three Bajorans for the attempted assassination of Gul Dukat. He could have continued to investigate and cleared the men but he did not. His guilt was revealed when after traveling through a plasma storm his mind formed a link with the other passengers and caused them to relive what had happened seven years prior. (DS9: "Things Past") As chief of security on a Cardassian station, Odo was occasionally required to operate outside official channels, and maintained a clandestine network of debts and allegiances to high-ranking members of the Cardassian government he could call on when needed. In the course of his career, he developed an extensive knowledge of espionage and assassination techniques, such as poison and scrambling signals. (DS9: "Improbable Cause"). Deep Space 9 He retained this post after the withdrawal of the Cardassian forces, when the station fell under Federation administration and was renamed Deep Space 9. At first Odo and Sisko did not see eye to eye on how station security should be handled, but eventually they would become close associates. (DS9: "Things Past", "Emissary") Sisko would stand by him when he was accused of killing a Bajoran he had arrested years earlier. When the Bajorans on the station became unruly and wanted to harm him, Sisko protected him. The situation was resolved when it was discovered that the Bajoran, Ibudan, had faked his own death in order to take revenge on Odo. (DS9: "A Man Alone") Having been found in the Denorios Belt, the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole provided him with further opportunity to investigate his origins. He was tricked by Croden into believing he had discovered Odo's people. The story had been fabricated by Croden to get Odo's help in rescuing Croden's daughter and other Rakhari. Croden apologized to Odo for the deception and wished him luck in finding his people. (DS9: "Vortex") Odo would resolve the conflict between Kira who threatened mutiny, and Sisko who wanted to arrest her for treason. Both were effected by a matrix that contained a log of a similar battle in an ancient culture. It was causing the crew to do the same thing. He was able to beam it off the station and destroy it. (DS9: "Dramatis Personae") His investigation of a Cardassian claiming to be Darhe'el, a war criminal, proved that the man was Marritza a file clerk for Darhe'el who wanted the Cardassian people to realize their crimes. (DS9: "Duet") In 2370 an extremist group of Bajorans, known as the Circle, led by Minister Jaro Essa and supported by Vedek Winn Adami, demanded that all non-Bajoran leave DS9 and Bajor. Civil war threatened the planet, but Odo was able through a Cardassian contact find that the Circle was being helped and financed by Cardassia in order to drive out the Federation, leaving the planet ripe for re-conquest. The weapons had been smuggled to the Circle through Kressari traders, which Odo revealed by using his shapeshifting abilities to "borrow" a manifest with a Gul's thumbscan on it. (DS9: "The Homecoming", "The Circle", "The Siege") When Odo was effected by a gas in the Gamma Quadrant that turned him into a destructive creature, Dr. Mora, the scientist who discovered Odo, would help cure him. (DS9: "The Alternate") Odo and Dax while in the Gamma Quardant would discover a planet where the people were disappearing. The people were really holo-grams created by Rurigan the sole survivor of a planet destroyed by the Jem'Hadar. He and Dax would fix the holo generator and restore the people. (DS9: "Shadowplay") In the Mirror Universe, Odo's counterpart was an evil overseer of the ore processing plant. He was killed by Bashir. (DS9: "Crossover") He helped represent O'Brien in a Cardassian court on fake charges of aiding the Maquis. His knowledge of Cardassian law annoyed the court, and his delaying tactics gave time for Sisko to prove the evidence false, and gain O'Brien release. (DS9: "Tribunal") During a mission to locate the Founders of the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant, he found himself drawn to a rogue planet in the Omarion Nebula. There he discovered that the Founders were, in fact, Changelings like himself. He soon discovered their distrust of "solids". (DS9: "The Search, Part I" and "Part II") Later that year he would have another encounter with the founders. The Female Changling assumed the appearence of Kira and accompanied him on an away mission. They landed on a planet to answer a distress call that the changling had faked. While on the planet the changling pretended that she was trapped inside a crystal being that was suffociating her. Odo was able to see through the ruse, but it gave the changling an understanding of Odo feelings for Kira. He would also serve as host for Curzon Dax during Jadiza's Trill rite of closure. (DS9: "Heart of Stone", "Facets") In 2371, a newly "born" Jem'Hadar was found among the wreckage of a salvaged ship Quark had purchased. The baby matured into an adolescent within days, and as a Changeling (and therefore a Founder in the boy's eyes), Odo inherited the responsibility of looking after him. The Jem'Hadar was willing to do literally anything Odo asked of him. However, Odo tried to break the boy of this habit and encouraged him to think for himself and resist his natural-born tendencies toward violence. Ultimately, the boy decided that he belonged with the other Jem'Hadar. Odo, who could relate given his own longing to return to the Great Link, escorted the boy to Dominion space and wished him well. (DS9: "The Abandoned") :The Jem'Hadar boy was never given a name. It is unclear how or when newly bred Jem'Hadar receive their names. In 2371 Odo was forced to admit to Garak that, despite his disgust at their behavior, he still wanted to return home. He accompanied Garak in an attempt to contact Enabran Tain. He became a prisoner of Tain, who was plotting, along with the Romulans, the extermination of the Founders. The plot failed, and Odo was aided in his escape by a Founder who was posing as a Romulan on Tain's ship. This resulted in the disastrous Battle of the Omarion Nebula, in which both the Romulan Tal Shiar and Cardassian Obsidian Order were utterly decimated. (DS9:"Improbable Cause", "The Die is Cast") In late 2371, Odo was forced to kill a Changeling posing as Ambassador Krajensky who had tried to provoke a war between the Federation and the Tzenkethi. He became the first Changeling ever to harm another. (DS9: "The Adversary") Odo would along with Rom, Quark, and Nog be tansported back in time to 1947. This became know in history as the Roswell Incident. They would escape and return to their own time. (DS9: "Little Green Men") In 2372, Odo accompained Sisko on a trip to Earth to advise Starfleet on the Changeling threat. Odo was able to show them how easy it would be inflitrate Starfleet. (DS9: "Homefront", "Paradise Lost") While there he was secretly infected with a morphogenic virus by the rogue organisation Section 31, in the belief that he would eventually link with others of his kind, transferring the disease and ultimately eliminating his entire species. (DS9: "Extreme Measures") He would protect Shaakar, the head of the Bajoran government on his visit to the station, even though he was jealous of him because of his relationship with Kira. When Worf's brohter, Kurn arrived on the station, after being dishonored by the high council due to Worf's siding with the Federation in the Klingon attempted to conquer Cardassia, he gave him a job of securtiy officer. Odo was on the joint mission with the Jem Hadar to stop a group of renegade Jem Hadar from capturing the Iconian Gate. (DS9: "Crossfire", "Sons of Mogh", "To the Death") Later that year, Odo became desperately ill, not as a result of the virus but because he had been poisoned by his own people in order to force him to return to them for treatment. There he was judged by the Great Link and forced in to humanoid form permanently, unable to change shape, as punishment for harming another Changeling. This had the unintended side effect of transferring the virus to every single member of the Great Link. (DS9: "Broken Link") : According to the script for To the Death, when Weyoun clapped Odo on the shoulder, he infected him with the sickness that presents itself in Broken Link and necessitates his return to the Great Link. Life as a Solid Permanently locked into his solid state, Odo became extremely depressed. He found some comfort in the new sensations of eating and drinking, but this gave him little solace. Odo's frustration was exacerbated when Captain Sisko decided to bring him on an undercover mission to expose a Changeling infiltrator in the Klingon Empire, for had he been a Changeling, Odo could have simply changed into Chancellor Gowron's pet targ. Instead he, Sisko, O'Brien and Worf disguised themselves as recipients for the Order of the Bat'leth and attempted to expose Gowron as a Changeling via polaron radiation. Odo proved to be a less than intimidating Klingon, but the mission went as planned until someone recognized their true faces. The Starfleet officers were exposed and nearly executed, but General Martok helped them escape to complete their mission in the name of the Empire. Worf almost killed Gowron in honorable combat, but by this time Odo had deduced that Martok was the true Changeling. The mission was ultimately a success. (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising") It was during Odo's time as a solid that the Defiant, through the treachery of an undercover Klingon named Arne Darvin, was sent back in time and found itself in the year 2268. The ship found itself near space station K-7 at a crucial moment when Darvin had been exposed as a spy and subsequently disowned by his people. Odo helped search for an explosive tribble to prevent Darvin from killing James T. Kirk. However, he found Worf's recounting of the Klingons' "war" against the Tribbles rather amusing. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations") Apparently, the Founders' attempt to force Odo to remain a Solid took some time, as a plasma storm later reacted with leftover morphogenic enzymes and caused his mind to telepathically reach out to link with other Changelings. At the time, he was returning from a conference with Sisko, Garak and Dax, and the four of them were trapped in a dream-like but utterly realistic recreation of the Cardassian Occupation based on Odo's memories. The people in the dream believed them to be a group of Bajoran terrorists who had been executed during the Occupation, but instead of Odo, his predecessor Thrax was in charge. Odo did not realize (or did not want to admit to himself) that Thrax's actions in the dream were in a recreation of his own amd their personae there were a group of innocent Bajorans who had been executed because Odo sided with "justice" rather than his sense of right and wrong. The experience, a product of Odo's guilt, forced him to admit the truth to himself and others. (DS9: "Things Past") In 2373, Quark found an infant Changeling amongst some salvage he had purchased. It was very sick and Odo and Dr. Mora's attempts to teach it to change form as Dr. Mora had done with Odo failed. Dying, it linked with Odo and restored his morphagenic matrix, allowing him to change form once again. (DS9: "The Begotten") The Dominion War After the Dominion captured Deep Space 9, Odo remained as constable only with Dukat in charge. He would join the ruling council at the invitation of Weyoun. After the Female Changeling arrived on the station, his loyalities were in question. The changling realized that the reason Odo remains with the solids is his love of Kira. She links with Odo in hopes of manipulating him. While Kira leads a resistance cell, Odo does nothing to help. Rom is arrested, but Odo does nothing, stating that he is at peace after his linking. Kira is later put into the brig and when the female changling explains her plans for the solids, including the execution of Kira, Odo's eye open. During the battle to retake Deep Space 9, Kira and Rom escape and Odo helps them. He and his security forces attack the station's guards, allowing Kira and Rom to disable the station's weapons system which helps the Defiant retake the station. (DS9: "A Time to Stand", "Behind the Lines", "Favor the Bold", "Sacrifice of Angels") In 2375 he tried to help Weyoun 6 defect to the Federation, the attempt failed and ended with Weyoun 6's death. (DS9: "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River") Odo was instrumental in ending the war with the Dominion. He and Colonel Kira joined Damar's resistance group, providing valuable help in his fight against the Dominion. When the Female Changeling refused to order the Jem'Hadar and Breen forces to stand down, Odo linked with her, convincing her that she was wrong about Solids and to stand trial. In exchange, Odo agreed to return to the Great Link permanently to help build a new Dominion, and to cure his people. Unfortunately, this meant the end of his relationship with Kira. He was accompained on his return to the Link by Kira. As he merged into the link he changed into a tuxedo, which Kira liked him in. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind") Beliefs Odo had an almost innate sense of justice, which he valued above all other things. As he told Sisko at one point, "Laws change depending on who's making them, but justice is justice." (DS9: "A Man Alone") As such, he enjoyed "thumbing his nose" at authority and going by his rules rather than those of Starfleet. (DS9: "The Search, Part I") His service during the Occupation changed his attitudes about justice significantly, however. When he began working for Gul Dukat, he believed he was on neither the Bajoran nor Cardassian side, an impartial investigator whose only goal was to find the truth. Experience during the occupation and being forced to choose sides when the truth would not lead to justice caused him to realize that, contrary to the Human axiom, justice is not blind. (DS9: "Necessary Evil") As late as 2369, Odo had never "coupled", claiming he chose not to do so. He saw too many compromises involved in humanoid relationships and failed to understand the humanoid obsession with coupling. (DS9: "A Man Alone") Interests During his time as a solid, Odo learned to appreciate the simpler things in life. When Captain Sisko found Odo in Quark's, Sisko was surprised to find the constable was not on duty for once, instead studying a glass of wine. Odo observed how soothing the sound of the bubbles was. Although he had found ingestion a disgusting process at first, Odo told Sisko he had come to enjoy it. (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising") Other aspects of monoform life proved less than comforting. In one embarrassing folly, Odo instinctively attempted to turn into a vorian pterodactyl while chasing a criminal on the promenade but instead fell and injured himself. Additionally, he suffered from poor posture because he carried himself too rigidly for a normal humanoid. (DS9: "The Ascent", "The Begotten") The Changeling also had a penchant for the earth sport of kayaking. He and O'Brien occasionly used a kayaking holoprogram, which O'Brien brought with him from the Enterprise. Odo found the experience 'quite enjoyable', although he refrained from singing sea chanties while they paddled.(DS9: "Heart of Stone") Odo found humanoid death rituals fascinating, particularly the Ferengi tradition of vacuum desiccation. When Quark was selling discs of the recently deceased Ferengi entrepreneur, Plegg, Odo sarcastically informed Quark of his interest in the subject and offered to buy a disc, much to Quark's surprise. However, it turned out that Plegg was very much alive and that Quark had been cheated. Plegg found this very amusing, although Quark and Odo did not. (DS9: "The Alternate") Odo found his position as umpire for the Niners' game against the Logicians fascinating. He took his duties very seriously, to the point that he threw Benjamin Sisko out of the game.(DS9: "Take Me Out to the Holosuite") Personal Relationships Family Although Odo was an orphan, Dr. Mora liked to think of himself as Odo's father and referred to himself as such on several occasions. However, Odo resented this presumption and preferred to forget his time in Mora's laboratory. (DS9: "The Alternate") In a manner of speaking, all Changelings and particularly the Great Link are his family. He, however, refused to join the link when he discovered their hatred of the solids and that they were the leaders of the ruthless Dominion. (DS9: "The Search, Part I") Romance Lwaxana Troi Ambassador Lwaxana Troi was infatuated with Odo from the moment she saw him. As she put it, "I've never been with a Changeling before!" Odo found Lwaxana's advances annoying and even complained to Commander Sisko that Ambassador Troi wouldn't leave him alone. An accident later trapped the two of them together in a turbolift shortly before Odo was set to revert to his gelatinous state. Over the course of several hours, the two of them finally began to understand each other. They were stuck in the turbolift so long that Odo could barely hold his shape and was literally "melting." Lwaxana offered to carry Odo in her dress, but he was too proud as no one had ever seen him in his liquid form. Finally, she removed her wig and admitted that no one had ever seen her in her natural state either. Odo felt more at ease after this revelation and allowed Lwaxana to carry him. (DS9: "The Forsaken") During Ambassador Troi's next visit to DS9, however, her persistent feelings for Odo combined with her case of zanthi fever to cause strange love triangles to form among the occupants of DS9. (DS9: "Fascination") Lwaxana's final visit with Odo was under duress, as her Tavnian husband was intent on taking her unborn child when it was born. In Tavnian culture, boys and girls were raised under strict gender separation, something Lwaxana apparently had not considered when she married her husband. Odo protected her long enough to keep her husband at bay and ultimately married her in Tavnian tradition in order to end her obligatory duties to her husband. This required a public profession of his love for her, which although forced came across as incredibly candid. (DS9: "The Muse") Arissa An Idanian woman named Arissa once fell for Odo. Later he found out that she was an agent sent into deep cover to inflitrate the Orion Syndicate. She was married and she did not know this while she was undercover. (DS9: "A Simple Investigation") Kira Over the years Odo began to fall in love with Kira Nerys. He kept this a secret from her, and stood by as she entered into other romantic relationships. When Kira and Vedek Bariel broke up, Odo was happy until Kira took up a relationship with Shaakar, the head of the Bajoran Government. With the help of Vic Fontaine, he finally revealed his feelings for her in 2374, and found that she felt the same way. Odo even linked with her. (DS9: Chimera) However, Odo left Deep Space 9 at the end of the Dominion War in order to heal the Great Link of a virus that was killing the Changelings. (DS9: "His Way", "What You Leave Behind") Friendships Quark From the time Quark opened his bar on DS9, he and Odo were bitter enemies. However, they maintained a mutual respect for one another, and Quark once observed that as Odo's worst enemy, he was the closest thing the shape-shifter had to a friend. (DS9: "A Man Alone") Odo always kept a vigilent eye on Quark's illicit activities, but in many cases, he was able to use Quark's underground contacts to infiltrate criminal organizations to which he would not otherwise have access. (DS9: "Indiscretion") The two would often have idle conversations at Quark's Bar while Odo was on duty and Quark was working. They maintained their rivalry, yet were fond of each other's company and their regular exchange of insults. For example, Odo simply "hrmphed" when Quark, in his momentary capacity as Grand Nagus of the Ferengi Alliance, told him to kiss the Nagal staff, yet he was confounded by a sudden burst of cooperation in 2370, which was actually Quark's interpretation of the 76th Rule of Acquisition: "Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies" (DS9: "The Nagus", "The Homecoming"). During a temporary crisis in which a group of non-corporeal beings caused people's wishes to come true, Odo amusingly wished Quark into a holding cell without thinking about it. (DS9: "If Wishes Were Horses") More than anyone else, Quark knew about Odo's secret feelings for Kira and confronted him about them several times. It was Quark who told Odo that Odo was in love with Kira, breaking through the defenses Odo had carefully erected to keep his personal life private. Odo did not want Quark's sympathy, but when Kira officially began dating First Minister Shakaar Edon, it was Quark who came to his quarters to check on him. There he set Odo straight, although with the usual facade; Quark ran a regular betting pool on how long it would take Odo to catch a perpetrator, and he claimed his profits would suffer if Odo did not rectify things and get back to work. Ironically, Odo's quarters were directly above Quark's, and at times Odo took perverse (albeit secret) pleasure in annoying the Ferengi by practicing his shapeshifting skills during the night. Whether it was a Takaran wildebeest or a Rafalian mouse, Odo was able to annoy Quark whenever he felt like it. However, once he set aside his feelings for Kira and got on with his life, Odo conveniently had his floor reinforced. As this would also soundproof the floor, Quark saw that his advice had helped and thanked Odo. (DS9: "Crossfire") Quark and Odo managed to get along briefly while trapped on an inhospitable planet and under dire circumstances; however, they resumed their old rivalry as soon as they returned to DS9. (DS9: "The Ascent") When Odo left DS9, he attempted to do so without anyone noticing, but Quark caught up with him in the airlock. Odo claimed to have nothing to say to the Ferengi, but while he did not say so, it was clear Odo would miss his long-time adversary. He later admitted to Kira before entering the Great Link that he would miss everyone aboard DS9, even Quark. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind") Worf Worf and Odo both enjoyed their privacy, and they shared a dislike of people "dropping by" their quarters unexpectedly. Although the two of them did not become close friends (as was the case with most of Odo's friendships), Worf and Odo respected and understood each other. However, the two of them clashed while Worf was attempted to acclimate himself to life aboard DS9. Worf observed that Quark was conducting smuggling activities and informed Odo about it only to find that Odo already knew of the transactions. Unbeknownst to Worf, Odo was conducting an undercover operation and planned to use Quark's clandestine connections to infiltrate a large smuggling ring. When Worf placed Quark and Quark's contact under arrest, he discovered that the container in which the illicit goods were located was actually Odo in disguise. (DS9: "Hippocratic Oath") Once the two learned each others ways, they found they could relate to one another far more than they realized. Odo offered Worf advice on how to keep people from simply "dropping by" his quarters. (DS9: "Crossfire") Laas While on a routine mission in the Alpha Quadrant, Odo and Chief O'Brien happened upon another Changeling named Laas. Odo was fascinated, as Laas too was one of the hundred infant Changelings the Founders had sent out to learn about other civilizations. The two of them bonded quickly, and Odo was able to tell that Laas' intentions were good despite the Chief's concerns. However, Laas did not integrate well when they returned to the station. He openly stated his dislike of "solids," much to Odo's chagrin. Laas believed Odo had been brainwashed into acting and thinking like a solid, making excessive and disruptive use of his own shape-shifting abilities to prove his point. Ultimately, Laas left in search of other Changelings in order to form a second Great Link. (DS9: "Chimera") :Odo likely infected Laas with the morphogenic virus. Laas' fate is unknown. Chronology 2375: Left DS9 to rejoin his people in the Great Link. Alternate Timeline In an alternate timeline, in which the Defiant was sent back in time to the 22nd century, Odo was the only member of the crew who lived to see the Defiant arriving in the 24th century. In two hundred years he had grown more proficient in shapeshifting and was able to assume a more human face. He sabotaged the Defiant and caused it to avoid crashing on Gaia. By doing so the inhabitants of Gaia ceased to exist. (DS9: "Children of Time") Appendices Background Odo was played by Rene Auberjonois throughout the entire run of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Odo's relationship with Quark is a clear homage to the classic 1942 film Casablanca, with Odo in Claude Rains' role of Captain Louis Renault and Quark as Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine, although the garrulous Renault and taciturn Blaine are somewhat the opposite in personality to their counterparts. The name Odo is shared with a central character in Ursula Le Guin's novel The Dispossessed. The character, ironically and in contrast to the Odo of Deep Space Nine, is an anarchist. See also *Odo (mirror) *Odo 1 *Odo's bucket Apocrypha In the DS9 Relaunch novels, Odo sends a Jem'Hadar ambassador to the Alpha Quadrant to foster Dominion understanding of other cultures. He soon returns to DS9 and temporarily reunites with Kira. Category:Nonhumans Category:Bajoran Militia personnel Category:Deep Space 9 personnel de:Odo fr:Odo nl:Odo